Laurence Nolan 1832-1908 and Mary Callaghan 1833-1881.

This is a photograph of Laurence and Mary Nolan, the grandparents of my grandmother, Hannah Keogh, who married Arthur McNally. I don’t know who the baby is. The photograph of Laurence and Mary is signed F. Warburton, 96 Brook Street, Reddish. One of their sons, John, was  living in Brook Street, Reddish, Stockport in 1901 with a daughter Mary, two years old. Their daughter, Mary also lived in Reddish in 1901 but  in 1881 they were living in Yorkshire. At number 96 Brook Street there was a family of Warburtons in 1901. 

 Mary died in 1881 and I still haven’t found any connection in Stockport before this date. The Warburtons could be in someway related to the family as the 1911 census has a Warburton as a nephew of Ellen Nolan living with them in Salford.

 Laurence and Mary were born in Westmeath, Ireland. They were in Manchester by 1851 and both of them had their mothers living in Manchester also. Mary’s sister, Margaret, was born in Manchester in 1835 which seems to suggest they left Ireland between 1833 and 1835 and the father died in Manchester.

Laurence Nolan was born in Westmeath, Ireland in 1832. His mother Elizabeth was born in Westmeath in 1803.

Mary Callaghan was born in Westmeath in 1833. Her mother, Mary was listed as age 36 in 1851.

On the 1851 census Mary was living with her widowed mother, Mary, at 21 Short Street, Ancoats, Manchester. Her next sister Margaret was born in 1835 in Manchester as were the other siblings, Patric, 15, 1836, Thomas, 11, Catherine, 5, born 1846.

In 1861 Laurence is married to Mary Callaghan and they have a daughter, Elizabeth aged 5 born in Manchester in 1856. They are living at 12 Short street in the Ancoats district of Manchester with Laurence’s mother and two of Elizabeth’s siblings, Margaret, 26, a factory hand and Peter Callaghan, born 1846 also a factory hand. Mary is working as a factory hand and Laurence is an engine driver.

By 1871 they have moved over to Salford and are living at 5 Weaver Street. Laurence’s mother is no longer living with them and they have a few more children. Elizabeth is 15 and working as a Dribbler at a Cotton Mill. There is also Mary, 6, Ellen (great-grandmother), 4, and John aged 2.

In 1881 they are living at 68 Cavendish Street, Salford. Laurence is 48 working as a stoker and the younger children are at home. Ellen is 14, John is 12 and there is a new daughter, Katherine who is 9.

Mary (b. 1865) married William H. Williams. In 1891 they are living in Manningham, Yorkshire. In 1901 they are living in Reddish, Stockport.

John (b.1869); in 1891 he is living with his sister Mary and her husband in Manningham, Yorkshire, working as a labourer at a Silk Mill. Mary’s husband William is a Silk Plush finisher. John married Winifred Talbot in Stockport in 1898. In 1901 they are living in Brook Street, Reddish, Stockport and their daughter Mary is two years old.

By 1891 Laurence is widowed and living with Ellen (my great- grandmother) who is now married to Matthew Keogh. Katherine Nolan is also there aged 19 working as a bag maker. Laurence is still working as a stoker for a stationary engine driver. They live at 11 Gertrude Street and two children have been born to Ellen and Matthew. Mary is 4 and Hannnah (my grandmother) is 1. Hannah was actually born on 11^th November 1888.

In 1901 Laurence is still with Ellen and Matthew and they are living at 13 Ruby Street, Salford. Mary is 14, Hannah is 1, and they now have Philip, Ellen and Laurence.

Laurence died in 1908.

Daniel Keogh

This fine looking gentleman is my great-great-grandfather Daniel Keogh. He had this photo taken at a studio on Regent Road in Salford. He was born in Ireland in 1829 and died in 1890 so the photo must have been taken sometime in the 1880s.
His son Matthew, my great-grandfather, was born in Manchester in 1866 by which time Daniel was about 38 years old.
His daughter Ellen was born in 1872 and from her baptism record we can see his wife was called Hannah.
Baptism: 13 Mar 1872 Sacred Trinity, Salford, Lancashire, England
Ellen Keogh - Child of Daniel Keogh & Hannah
Abode: Williamson Court Garden St
Occupation: Plasterer
Baptised by: J U Glanville
In the 1881 census he appears as a widower with his son Matthew and daughter Ellen boarding at the house of Hannah Birchall at 13 Croydon Street, Salford. Daniel is 52 years old and working as a plasterer. Matthew is 14, working as a cord machine minder and Ellen 9, is a scholar.
He died in Salford in 1890.
And that is all the information I can find about him, leaving lots of unanswered questions.
Where in Ireland was he born? Was Hannah his first wife? Did he marry her in Ireland?
Why can I not find census records before 1881? Why can I not find any other records? Or have I just got a lot more work to do?
The biggest enigma is how come Ellen was baptized at a Church of England church when they should have been Catholics.
Matthew Keogh married Ellen Nolan in 1886 at St Stephens Church, Hulme, Manchester which is also C. of E. They were the parents of my paternal grandmother all of them firmly belonging to the Catholic Church.
Ellen married John Manning in 1890 and had two children, Henry born 1891 and Daniel born 1893 before she died in 1894 at the age of 22.

Looking for the Irish Family

We know precious little about the McNally family. My grandfather Arthur McNally was born in Loughshinny in the Skerries area of Co. Dublin in 1891. I’ve visited Loughshinny a couple of times now and seen the new bungalow on the plot where their house stood, next to the old school which is now a community centre. The house and land was sold by one of my uncles after the death of the younger sisters sometime in the nineteen-eighties.

After contacting the Parish Priest in Rush I’ve been given a contact in Loughshinny and I’m now dying to make another visit out to the area.

I’ve walked down the road from the school to the harbour, the pretty little fishing harbour which seems to have changed little in centuries. It’s a wild, beautiful place, full of history and geography all sea, sky and rocks and changing light and weather.

Arthur McNally is listed on the 1911 census as farmer’s son, living in Ballykea, Loughshinny with his mother and father and four sisters, Mary, Catherine, Margaret, Jane (Jennie). It seems Catherine was the only one to marry. She became a Clifford (or a Colgan?)

There is a bit of an enigma here as the story goes that he ran away to sea at an early age. His sons all remember the wonderful seafaring tales he told them and these in turn were passed on to us. Of course it’s all a bit vague and lost now. I was told he went to New York on sailing ship carrying merchandise. One of the last mercantile sailing ships to cross the Atlantic. I was also told about Arthur working the boats from Cornwall to Manchester, carrying tin and about what a hard life this was.

It therefore seems a bit strange to see him listed on the 1911 census as farmer’s son aged 20. Arthur was married in 1916 in Salford, Manchester so his seafaring days can’t have been that many unless he was home between jobs at the time of the census.

He lived for the rest of his life in Salford and worked on the Manchester and Salford docks. He had six sons to Hannah Keogh who was born in Salford but came from Irish family who had originally come over from Ireland at the time of the famine.

They lived in the streets of terraced houses leading down to the docks, streets of poverty and grime surrounded by the chimneys of the ‘dark satanic mills’ and gas works. The contrast between the sea and the sky of Loughshinny couldn’t be greater and I wonder how Arthur could have felt leaving that beautiful place for work on the docks where the labouring was hard. I can only conclude that the conditions in that part of rural Ireland can’t have been idyllic. The farming may have been growing a few potatoes from hard, rocky ground.

Arthur’s parents were Laurence McNally 1859-1943 and Margaret Hoare (born In Rush)

1863-1943. We have found baptism and marriage records and I now know they are buried at

Baldongan graveyard . They attended the Catholic Church in Rush. There was no church in

Loughshinny and apparently the Catholics were allowed to take a short cut through the demesne

of Kenure Estate to attend mass.

The Victorian church in Rush was replaced by a new church right next door sometime in the seventies. The old church has been converted into a library, which despite winning prestigious architectural prizes, has suffered from the cuts in Irish public service spending and had its opening delayed.

His grandparents were Arthur McNally and Catherine Ryan (born1827) They were married in 1848, presumably in the church at Rush.

The 1901 census provides this fascinating information Catherine McNally aged 74: living at house 27 Loughshinny, occupation shopkeeper and grandson Arthur aged 10. If this is Arthur he’s on the census twice as he’s also clearly listed at the same house next to the community centre with his parents and the figure of Michael Ryan who is the uncle of Arthur’s father, Laurence, and seems to be the owner of the property. The 1901 census also shows James Hoare aged 72, fisherman, living in house 138 Rush town. He is a widower living with daughter Bridget and could be the father of my great-grandmother.

Arthur married Hannah Keogh, daughter of Laurence Nolan who was born in Westmeath, Ireland and his wife Elizabeth Callaghan, also born in Westmeath. They went to the UK in the years that correspond to the Irish potato famine. Sadly, the only clue we have is Westmeath and it’s a pretty big place.

There is a lot more research work to be done here and another trip out to Loughshinny is being planned.